19 January 2010

If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know I started a bi-weekly feature to highlight Canadian Chefs in 2009. This year I will continue on this journey full force to bring you all that Canada has to offer!!! Through your TV networks, or perhaps on other blogs, or even just right here on More Than Burnt Toast you may have heard of some of our Canadian chefs. For those of you who haven't, I hope you will find it interesting to see what our chefs are up to, a little about their history and how they came to love what they do. For the next few months I will continue to feature one of our Canadian chefs when time allows. There will be some chefs you have heard of and adore and some lesser known who are "up and coming". Some are not even chefs at all, but just Canadians who are passionate about what they do!! As the thirteenth installment in my Canadian Chef series I introduce you to:

Lynn Crawford

Lynn was born into a Scottish family in Willowdale, Ontario and later moved during her high school years to nearby Richmond Hill. Her father was a butcher, and while they grew up on simple comfort foods he exposed his two children early to all the world has to offer in food and wine. While studying fine art at Ontario's University of Guelph, she realized she had missed her true calling and decided on changing paths to become a professional chef. While cooking for friends in her apartment after class, she was always looking to create challenging and complicated dishes. She loved to go to the farmer's markets and would buy secondhand cookbooks and back issues of Gourmet magazine from the fifties and sixties. I think she sounds like a lot of food bloggers!!!!

Therefore she quit university and moved to Toronto to enroll in George Brown College’s acclaimed culinary program. During her studies, she explored Toronto’s finest restaurants, honing her skills and receiving classical training from the city’s premier chefs. When she graduated she went to California to apprentice in restaurants with two of our best known icons... Alice Waters and the late Barbara Troop.

If you’re a fan of Food Network Canada, then Lynn Crawford is a familiar face to you. Lynn is best known from Restaurant Makeover. Pegged as Canada’s Top Female Chef, she has worked for the Four Seasons for 19 years in several of the hotel chain's prestigious properties, including Nevis, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. Lynn received tremendous media attention as the executive chef of Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, where she was the only female executive chef for a Four Seasons property in the world. She appeared on the Food Network's Iron Chef America (the third chef from Canada to do so), in a battle with Iron Chef Bobby Flay. Lynn is a tremendous culinary presence here in the North.

Lynn has very simple beliefs and philosophies on food. “I have always thought of food as an expression of art,” she says. “I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to fuel my passion every day. I express myself best by using beautiful products. I want to leave an impression, create a memory, and nothing matters more to me than a beautiful dish. I adore food!” The creation of a delicious meal does require passion and quality ingredients. To have one without the other would seem unnatural and would go against everything that Lynn Crawford stands for. Maintaining a philosophy that food needs to be celebrated and shared with family and friends, Lynn believes that food is not something that should be kept to oneself but shared with many as a means of providing a sense of enjoyment. I am sure this resonates with many of us as well.

So what is Lynn up to these days? After a 24 year career as a five-star, high profile chef, she is leaving her post as Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Manhattan for the ultimate gastronomic adventure!!! Her own show Pitchin’ In premiered January 4 on Food Network Canada . Here she's travels all over the map to try to reconnect with food and to meet the farmers, fishermen and others who produce the foods she makes into extraordinary meals each day. This is a drastic change from the fancy kitchens and expensive, luxurious ingredients she has been working with for so many years at the Four Seasons.

In each episode of Pitchin In Lynn Crawford makes a deal with her local hosts. They let her work hard with them for a few days to learn the ropes and in return she cooks them a spectacular dinner featuring their own products. Lynn takes on any challenge that comes her way, relying on local hunters, fishermen or farmers to show her how it’s done. From fighting off bugs in the muddy Louisiana crawfish ponds to cleaning up after pigs in Georgia and wrestling lobsters in Nova Scotia, there isn’t anything she won’t try in the name of fresh food. With each show we learn with Lunn to gain an understanding and appreciation for food that is not taught in culinary school. Lynn Crawford’s passion for food gets her through each new situation and her sense of humour and adventure make this series a sheer joy to watch.

When Lynn isn’t travelling to new fisheries and farms on Pitchin’ In she’s working on opening her first restaurant in Toronto, Ontario, currently set to open in March 2010. Understandably the restaurant will be about sharing the table and supporting local producers.

Lynn is an accomplished chef which made it more than difficult to decide on what to make for this months chefs series. With choices like:

I ultimately decided upon this chicken dish. Quite often cooking for me is about what I have on hand as well as flavour even if I would have loved to prepare any of the dishes above. This chicken dish was moist and flavourful.

In a small mixing bowl combine the lemon juice, pistachios and honey and mix together.

Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper. Sear the chicken in a sauté pan over the medium heat until golden brown on both sides.

Add the lemon honey pistachio mixture onto the tops of the chicken. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

In a heavy bottom pot with a lid, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the onions and orzo and cook until golden brown, or until the orzo smells nutty.

Add the rice and stir to coat with onions and orzo. Add the stock, orange zest, saffron, dried apricots, raisins and season with salt.

Bring the rice mixture to a boil. Stir once and cover with the lid. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and rest on the stovetop for 10 minutes with the lid on. Add the chopped dill and scallions and fluff into the rice pilaf using a fork.

To serve, spoon the apricot rice pilaf onto a plate and top with the lemon honey pistachio chicken.

“If you don’t have passion then it’s just a job,” says Crawford. “That’s the difference between a cook and a chef. A chef never stops thinking about food.”

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison

I really miss Food Network Canada and I especially enjoyed Lynn on Restaurant Makeover. She has a very nice presence and personality. I have no doubt this is another of her wonderful recipes. Thank you!

This recipe has become one of my family's favourite! The Turkish Apricot Rice Pilaf is a great side and pairs so well with this chicken. Am I alone in wishing Lynn Crawford would publish a cookbook of her own?! She's got so many great recipes floating around out there...

What a delicious looking meal! I love Middle Eastern flavours. I absolutely love your Canadian profiles. (Not a big fan of Lynn Crawford, I'm sure her food is great but I find her obnoxious and loud. ;-)

Love that pistachio topping. Have I mentioned how much I love pistachios? I'm sure it's only been 600 or 700 times...I could really see that on more than just chicken. It would be fun to toss with green beans or other veggies.

LC has long been my favourite Canadian chef. She has an amazing sense of humour and an uncanny ability to make it all look entirely simple. The best is that she's real and approachable and doesn't seem to have this whole ego thing going on.

using fruit in salads and savoury dishes is becoming quite popular in greece - this is great, as it encourages people to eat more fruit, whereas before, if they were full after the main meal, they would skimp on it

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My blog More Than Burnt Toast has been my passion for almost 9 years and has evolved with me over time as I have gained confidence in the kitchen. Follow my travels through Italy and Greece one recipe at a time, upcoming cooking classes at local Okanagan wineries and restaurants, as well as daily experimentation in my own kitchen. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market. I look forward to getting to know you.